Weekend Edition

Topics from the Most Recent Show: Saturday | Sunday

Saturday

• Program Gets AIDS Patients To The Doctor
  In the nation's capital, African-Americans make up more than 75 percent of the city's HIV/AIDS cases. To combat the disease and its spread, advocates and city health officials have decided to try to improve the link between being tested and being treated. Washington, D.C., and the Bronx in New York will be the site of a pilot research program designed to connect patients with a doctor, and put those patients on anti-retroviral medication as soon as they are diagnosed.
• Brautigan's Surreal Story: 'Trout Fishing In America'
  The book <em>Trout Fishing in America</em> was published in 1967 and became an instant cult favorite. Guest host Audie Cornish speaks with writer and former national poet laureate Billy Collins about the book's author, Richard Brautigan. Collins describes Brautigan's writing as an American form of surrealism.
• Week In Review With Daniel Schorr
  This week, the unemployment rate dropped from 10 percent down to 9.7 percent, a five-month low. Obama said he would issue an executive order for a bipartisan debt reduction commission, and he also promised to repeal the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, banning people who are openly gay from serving in the military. Guest host Audie Cornish reviews the week in the news with NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr.
• Just Who Are The Tea Partiers?
  The Tea Party emerged last year in opposition to the federal stimulus package and what it considers excessive government spending and taxation. The group bills itself as a bottom-up, grassroots network which isn't organized like a typical political party. Guest host Audie Cornish talks with Republican strategist Ed Rollins about this week's National Tea Party convention and the group's influence on GOP politics.
• Small Relief In Job Numbers
  The January jobs report showed the economy losing 20,000 jobs, but there was some good news. The unemployment rate actually declined last month. Monthly job losses have declined sharply from a year ago, but employers are still very reluctant to hire additional workers.
• The Tea Party Takes Shape
  The movement is growing in size and influence, but whether it can hold together to have a lasting impact on the political landscape remains to be seen.
• Toyota's Troubles Roll On
  It's been a tough week for Toyota and Toyota owners. The company's president apologized Friday for the recall of more than 2 million of its cars for faulty gas pedals, but there could be more problems. Toyota Prius owners in the U.S. and Japan are now waiting to hear if their hybrids will be recalled for brake problems. Guest host Audie Cornish speaks with <em>New York Times</em> business correspondent Micheline Maynard about Toyota's recall woes.
• Spared Cuts, Education Gets Special Attention
  This week, the Obama administration pledged to cut spending in order to bring down the national deficit, but not where education is concerned. It's put a good deal of money on the table for states which fall in line with the administration's ideas of a major education overhaul. Guest host Audie Cornish talks with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan about redesigning the standard-setting No Child Left Behind law and other Obama administration initiatives.
• Boy Scouts Prepared To Celebrate A Century
  The Boy Scouts of America turns 100 years old this month. That's a century of merit badges, campfires, bowlines, half-hitches, jamborees and camporees, first aid and community service. Guest host Audie Cornish talks to Marcos Nava, who heads up Hispanic Initiatives for the Boy Scouts, and actor Jon Heder, an Eagle Scout and star of the film <em>Napoleon Dynamite</em>.
• Music Returns To Port-au-Prince
  Amid the desperation and despair in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-prince, musicians from Haiti's national chorus, jazz band and philharmonic gave their first post-quake concert. The musicians were able to rescue some instruments from the rubble, and they held the concert in the devastated neighborhood of Bell Aire to bring hope to the displaced.
• Chicken Wings, Check. Beer, Check. It's Super Bowl!
  Super Bowl Sunday is here, and the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts are facing off in Miami for the NFL Championship. Is there an underdog upset in store? Guest host Audie Cornish chats with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman about the Super Bowl and other big upcoming sports events.
• Haitian Boy Finally Joins American Family
  A few weeks ago, NPR's Scott Simon spoke with Erin and Michael Lancer, a couple who was in the middle of adopting a 3-year-old boy from Haiti when the earthquake struck. Weeks later, their story has a happy ending.
• Nashville's Original Activists
  While the Tea Party convention meets, another group of activists is meeting in Nashville, Tenn., to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights sit-in movement.
• Paulson Calls For More Financial Regulatory Power
  The economy was on the verge of collapse in 2008 when the federal government stepped in to shore up the financial system. Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who was at the center of those efforts, says the government still needs better tools to prevent another crisis.
• Galactic: Noodle Soups And New Orleans Bounce
  Just in time for Carnival season, the band's new album, <em>YA-KA-MAY,</em> combines the traditional brassy funk and soul of its hometown with an energetic regional dialect of hip-hop. Band members Ben Ellman and Stanton Moore discuss their project.

Sunday

• In Honor Of The Super Bowl
  Every answer today is a word used in football. Given three words, you give a word that can follow each to give a familiar two word phrase. The answer will always be a football term. For example, if the clue is "year, tag and dead," the answer would be "end."
• 'How's That Hopey, Changey Stuff?' Palin Asks
  Conservative activists in Nashville this week for the first-ever National Tea Party Convention gave a hero's welcome to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who closed the event with a speech Saturday night. Palin praised the Tea Party movement and delivered a scathing &mdash; sometimes mocking &mdash; critique of both the economic and national security policies of the Obama administration.
• Mid-Atlantic Survives The 'Snowmageddon'
  The huge winter storm that's come to be known as 'Snowmageddon' and the 'Snowpocalypse' is over. Now the 'Big Dig' begins. The blizzard dumped more than two feet of snow in parts of the Mid-Atlantic states. Hundreds of thousands of people are without power, roofs collapsed and tree limbs snapped under the weight of the snow. At least two deaths are blamed on storm. Travel is a mess, and below freezing temperatures will cause icy road conditions for days. Host Liane Hansen talks to reporter Susan Phillips of WHYY in Philadelphia about the snowstorm.
• Sanctions Turn Tables In U.S.-China Relations
  In something of a role reversal, China has announced its plans to sanction U.S. companies involved in selling arms to Taiwan. This harder line reflects the changing power dynamics between China, a country with a booming economy, and the U.S., which is still pulling out of a recession. Host Liane Hansen speaks with Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, about changing U.S.-China relations.
• Ukraine Voters Pass Judgment On The Orange Revolution
  Sunday should mark the end of a bitterly-fought presidential campaign in Ukraine. But many people across the former Soviet republic fear whichever candidate loses will challenge the results in court. That is exactly what happened at the end of 2004, when a court threw out a rigged election and street protests began what became known as the Orange Revolution. NPR's David Greene reports from Kiev's Independence Square, the heart of those 2004 protests.
• The Super Bowl Stock Market Predictor
  The Super Bowl Stock Market Predictor holds that if a team from the old NFL wins, the market will rise in that year; if a team from the old AFL wins, the market will fall. In 1990 two researchers found that the predictor was accurate 91 percent of the time. A member of Washington and Lee University's finance faculty, George Kester, has completed a new study that finds that the predictor's accuracy has fallen slightly to 77 percent. He speaks with host Liane Hansen.
• First Black Woman POW 'Still Standing'
  Shoshana Johnson was one of seven American POWs rescued alive 22 days after the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed in An Nasiriyah, Iraq, in March of 2003. Her capture made her the first African-American female prisoner of war in U.S. history. Host Liane Hansen talks to Johnson about her new memoir <em>I'm Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen, My Journey Home</em>.
• Who Needs A Running Back To Win The Super Bowl?
  One thing football fans hear over and over again is that a team must run in order to be successful. You can't win in the NFL without a ground game, TV experts still say. But that doesn't seem to be the case in the Super Bowl, and it doesn't seem to be the case overall in the NFL. Running, as a means to victory, is under aerial assault from the passing game.
• Radiation Leak Threatens Future Of Vermont's Nuclear Power
  Radiation leaks at Vermont's only nuclear power plant have put the facility's future on the line. Vermont is the only state that gives the legislature the right to vote on whether a nuclear power plant can extend its operating license. The Vermont Yankee plant wants permission to run for another 20 years, but the leaks, and disclosures that plant officials misled the state about underground pipes, have some officials calling for a shut-down. Vermont Public Radio's John Dillon reports.
• Meet The Backwards-Speaking Girl
  Meghan Shea is a college student with an odd talent: she can read and speak backwards. Host Liane Hansen talks to Shea about her unusual linguistic ability, and picks up a few pointers.
• Caribou Hunt Gone Wrong Brings Town's First Trial
  This week in Alaska, three native hunters went on trial for leaving behind caribou carcasses after they were killed. The trial was in Point Hope, possibly the oldest inhabited place in North America. It was the first time an actual trial was held there. Host Liane Hanson talks with Jill Burke of the Alaska Dispatch about the week's events.
• 'Birthright': The Astonishing Story Behind 'Kidnapped'
  In his new book, <em>Birthright</em>, author A. Roger Ekirch gives a historical account of the 18th-century kidnapping of 12-year-old British aristocrat James Annesley. The story captivated public attention and inspired at least five novels, including Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure tale <em>Kidnapped.</em>
• Looking For Answers In Japan's Toyota City
  The ground zero of Toyota's meltdown, a modern glass and steel building, can be found in this quiet city of 420,000. The city was already hit hard by the recession, and the spate of other problems in recent days has only added to the auto manufacturer's woes. Old-timers at Toyota say one reason for the company's current difficulties can be found in the Toyota Way, a philosophy that underpins and unites the entire company.
• New Orleans Picks First White Mayor In 32 Years
  Saturday, voters in New Orleans chose Louisiana's lieutenant governor to replace Mayor Ray Nagin. Mitch Landrieu won the mayoral election after putting together a strong coalition of support, promising to put racial disputes aside and jump start the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.
• U.S. Security Now Hinges On European Financial Crisis
  A year ago, the U.S. intelligence community's "threat assessment" identified the global financial crisis as the number one near-term threat to national security. This year's assessment found that the global economy less threatening, but it did highlight one notable development: Economic problems in Europe are now more worrisome than in the developing world, a reversal of the pattern of recent years. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.